Due to the distance from Puntarenas to Corinto, it is not possible to arrive any earlier than 0900 at the pilot station. And so it was done accordingly. The captain kept the pedal to the metal and we nicely arrived on time. From there it is about an hour to the dock as it involves… read more of “31 Oct 2014;…”

Coming to Costa Rica, you have two options for docking. Going to Puerto Caldera or to Puntarenas which is about 2 miles to the west of P.C. Until about 10 years ago Puerto Caldera was the only port. Built as a cargo port, it started to attract more and more passenger ships. That we docked… read more of “30 October 2014;…”

Today a peaceful and nearly wind still day at sea. The only movements that can be seen are other ships coming from or going to the Canal and Brown Boobies and Starlings hovering over the bow. The moving ship produces an upstream of air and the birds love it. Without any real wind there is… read more of “29 October 2014; At…”

And thus we approached the Panama Canal in the very early morning hours. However things do not always go as planned so by 0800 hrs. the ship was one hour behind the published schedule, courtesy of some slow movers coming the other way. That meant that the whole transit was going to be put back… read more of “28 Oct. 2014;…”

The weather forecast called for rain in the afternoon but it turned out not to be the case. We had all the rain in the morning and it only dried up close to lunch time when all the guests were returning to the ship, as departure was scheduled for 1300 hrs. It gave a very… read more of “27 Oct. 2014;…”

What was supposed to be the one day at sea became now the 2nd day at sea due to not being able to call at Grand Cayman yesterday. And what a day it was today. Flat Calm of wind. Not even a ripple for most of the day. The only wind that was there was… read more of “26 Oct. 2014; At…”

Last night we had an hour back because North America is still on summertime (GMT – 4 hrs.) and the Caribe stays on GMT – 5 hrs. all year around. But by the end of the month they should be in synch again when winter time comes. With the hour time change it was day… read more of “25 Oct. 2014:…”

The route that we take today is a sort of Cruise ship highway. For all the ships that come and go to the Caribbean, the island of Cuba is very much in the way. And as the Cubans have not yet dug a Cuban Canal right through the middle all ships have to go around… read more of “24 Oct. 2014; At…”